Rutgers University’s Unconventional Chaplain

Barry Klassel, an avowed atheist, is the state university’s first humanist chaplain and one of only four on a college campus in the entire country.

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“Secular humanists don’t look to gods or the afterlife or the spirit world for understanding, strength, or support,” Klassel said. “We look for understanding in the world itself. And we look for support from each other.”

“Humanism is based on understanding the world not by looking toward gods but observing what goes on around us to reach conclusions,” Klassel said. “We all struggle and feel pain, so we must look toward each other for support.”

Klassel said Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University, and the author of the book ‘Good without God?’ will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 in Hickman Hall on the Douglass Campus.